Education is compulsory in Kazakhstan until age 17. Primary education begins at age 7, and secondary education begins at age 11 and lasts for a seven-year period. Primary and secondary schools provide education free of charge. Kazakhstan’s literacy rate is nearly 100 percent for ages 15 and older. Illiteracy was high before the Soviet period but was nearly eliminated under the Soviet system of free and universal education. State funding for schools has been reduced since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Institutes of higher education in Kazakhstan include the Kazakh Al-Farabi State National University, located in Almaty, and the Qaraghandy State University, located in Qaraghandy. The republic also has numerous institutes that offer specialized courses of study in fields such as economics, civil engineering, and medicine.